COLUMBUS Ship to Visit Muskogee

(MUSKOGEE) - A replica of one of Christopher Columbus' three ships is coming to town. <br><br>School children will be able to walk on the deck of The Nina, a reproduction of the ship on which Columbus

Monday, September 10th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(MUSKOGEE) - A replica of one of Christopher Columbus' three ships is coming to town.

School children will be able to walk on the deck of The Nina, a reproduction of the ship on which Columbus logged more than 25,000 miles.

The Nina will travel up the Arkansas River to dock at Three Forks Landing on Oct. 25.

The 66-foot ship, patterned after a Portuguese caravel, will dock next to an empty barge for two weeks.

The ship was built by hand in Bahia, Brazil, by the Columbus Foundation, based in the Virgin Islands.

Captain Morgan Sanger said the ship, which has been touring since 1992, has logged about 125,000 miles since its construction. The longest trip was 5,200 miles in the Pacific.

``She's a rugged vessel,'' he said. ``She's extremely sea worthy.''

A crew of six sail the modern Nina, which has World War II-style pipe berths for sleeping, an icebox that holds 1,000 pounds of ice and a propane stove.